As flood waters recede, Kīhei is left with a muddy mess, coastal erosion and road damage

On Sunday morning, as the sun finally came out after two days of torrential rain, tourists Staci and Sean Ortega from Arizona were barefoot as they used shovels to try to free their rental car from a foot of heavy mud.

The couple, who were on spring break with their kids aged 8 and 14, knew it would not be possible to drive out of the mud-filled parking lot of Koa Lagoon or along S. Kīhei Road, which in that location was impassable.

But they wanted to be ready for when they could make their getaway to their previously reserved accommodations that night in West Maui. Staci Oretga said: “We just told them we’re stuck here.”

Along the coast of Kīhei, most of the flood waters had receded from the Kona low storm by Sunday morning, but in its wake was lots and lots of mud, stuck vehicles, downed trees, coastal erosion and damaged roads.

A road closure sign stopped traffic at S. Kīhei Road in front of Kamaole Beach Park II, with an officer parked in a patrol car making sure people avoided the dangerous area where the pavement collapsed. In the big hole was a pedestrian crossing sign, exposed pipes and other infrastructure, an electric pole and debris.

The badly damaged road became a tourist attraction, with visitors taking photos and shooting video. One woman told her kids: “This is crazy.”

Other stretches of S. Kīhei Road also will need to be repaired, including in a northern section where a white van is still lying on its side in a hole caused by the erosion.

County workers started on Sunday to address the mud and debris that was at the very north end of S. Kīhei Road, making it impassable for more than a half mile.

The sounds of mini skids and mini excavators were everywhere, helping to dig out parking lots of resorts, churches and private roadways.

One parking lot that did not have to be dug out belonged to Kīhei Beach Condominiums. Despite S. Kīhei Road being filled with multiple feet of mud in front of the complex, flood barriers purchased by the condo association for a little more than $20,000 about two years earlier worked perfectly, according to condo president Steve Gagliardi.

“This was a wonderful investment,” Gagliardi said. “They cost a lot less than repairs.”

But while all the cars in the condo’s parking lot were not damaged or stuck in mud, they still were hostage to the cleanup of S. Kīhei Road.

Many people tried to take matters into their own hands. On Kūlanihākoʻi Street, several men were trying to dig out a white car enough to be pulled out with a Jeep. The mud was the early winner, with the front bumper pulled away from the car and the chain connection snapped.

Just around the corner, another group of people was trying to get a truck out of about 2 feet of mud on S. Kīhei Road. The truck was not stuck because of the storm. It became stuck while trying to rescue a Honda that had been caught in the storm days earlier, the Honda owner said in disgust.

“Never have we had this much mud,” said Patty Dunn, president of the Association of Apartment Owners at Koa Lagoon, who had a front-row view of the efforts to free the Honda.

“We need the skidsters to get here,” she said.

She said it didn’t help that flood water was partially blocked from flowing through the nearby gulch and out to the ocean because of concrete sewer pipes just sitting by the side of the road, two cars getting pushed into the gulch, as well as two metal plates that a nearby resident had put up for property protection but ended up also floating near it.

“This all made it even more difficult for the water to go anywhere,” Dunn said.

Many of the complexes where cars could not leave due to the flooding and mud also were without electricity from Friday night until Sunday night.

Dunn said the guests made the best of it, and she helped as she could. It included providing a Bunsen burner so a woman could heat formula for her baby.

Most of the businesses along S. Kīhei Road were open on Sunday, with cleanup around their parking lots and sidewalks. But at least two gas stations were not operational, and at the north end, Kīhei Crossroads was closed with the road in front of it impassable. That popular strip shopping center houses an ABC store, Ululaniʻs Hawaiians Shave Ice, the Sugar Beach Shop and Farmerʻs Market Maui.

Most of the county parks were closed along S. Kīhei Road, with some standing water and mud. But that did not stop visitors and locals for walking through them or going to the beach, with a few people, mostly kids, braving the brown water.

Todd Nelson scoured the shoreline with his metal detector.

“Are you looking for gold?” asked a young boy Everett Felix.

Nelson said so far all he had found was pennies.